Brexit explained

As the United Kingdom stands on the brink of remaining or leaving the European Union, I am reminded of this excerpt from the Yes Minister television series of long ago. Season One, I believe it was, when this exchange took place:

Sir Humphrey: "Minister, Britain has had the same foreign policy objective for at least the last 500 years: to create a disunited Europe. In that cause we have fought with the Dutch against the Spanish, with the Germans against the French, with the French and Italians against the Germans, and with the French against the Germans and Italians. Divide and rule, you see. Why should we change now when it's worked so well?"

Jim Hacker: "That's all ancient history, surely."

Sir Humphrey: "Yes, and current policy. We had to break the whole thing [the EEC] up, so we had to get inside. We tried to break it up from the outside, but that wouldn't work. Now that we're inside we can make a complete pig's breakfast of the whole thing: set the Germans against the French, the French against the Italians, the Italians against the Dutch. The Foreign Office is terribly pleased, it's just like old times."

A Hatyai shopping weekend

My wife and I took off on a weekend holiday to Hat Yai with some friends last week. This trip had been in the planning since the beginning of the year but only materialised about three weeks ago when the friends we knew suddenly agreed to come along with us.

So there we were at the Bukit Mertajam railway station last Friday morning to await the arrival of the 7.37a.m. KTM ETS train to Padang Besar. Once we arrived at the border and having cleared Malaysian and Thai immigration, we boarded the State Railway of Thailand's diesel railcar service to Hatyai, arriving in the Thai city at about 9.45a.m. local time.

A 10-minute walk took us to the Kosit Hotel. The Kosit was an aged hotel but the accommodation was still clean and comfortable enough. We were allocated a room at the end of the long corridor which turned out lucky for us because it was quiet. However, it was not so lucky for two of our friends who were given a room near to the lift lobby. Throughout the night, there were people loitering around the lobby and chattering away without a care for the guests in the rooms. My friends should have complained to the hotel's reception, which they did not.

Lunch on the first day was at a Thai restaurant across the road from the hotel. Our first authentic Thai meal during our stay. And after we had finished, it was a walk into the business district of Hatyai. We found our way to the Kimyong market for purchases of some foodstuff and cheap clothes. Thereafter, we made our way by the tut-tut to the Central Festival Mall, an upmarket shopping centre catering mostly to tourists. Dinner was at one of the restaurants there which served kurobuta pork.

Our second day in Hatyai began with a filling breakfast of pork porridge at a coffee shop across the road from the hotel. Thereafter, travelling by tut-tut to their main wet market. Nothing much to buy there, seeing how the roads around the market were in a chaotic mess and we not knowing where exactly to go. As a result, we went from the market to the Lee Garden Plaza instead, from where we took a lazy stroll back to the Kosit.

By this time, it was close to checking out time. A quick lunch of chicken rice at the same coffee shop and we were soon on our way to the railway station. We boarded the diesel railcar which left at one o'clock and arrived at Padang Besar at 2.50 p.m. Malaysian time. Seeing that we still had about two hours to kill before the ETS train would depart, some of us made our way to the Padang Besar shopping arcade for, yes, still some more last-minute shopping.

 

The Free School gate

The imposing gate at the entrance into Penang Free School was built only in the 1970s and was never part of the original building plans some 50 years earlier. Here is an insight into the proposal to build the gate and the subsequent approval by the Board of Governors. This is an adapted extract from my forthcoming book on the history of Penang Free School:

In 1975, Goon Fatt Chee first mooted to the Board of Governors the necessity to build a main School Gate and four smaller gates at the other entrances, although real discussions on this ambitious project were only initiated in 1976. Based on his estimates, the cost of constructing the main gate would be about $40,000 while each of the smaller ones would cost less than $10,000. Two years later, he expressed confidence to the Board that funds could be raised for the gates’ construction from donations and the School would not have to bear the expenses. 

A disgruntled voice among the Governors questioned whether the gates were needed at all, but the Headmaster argued that the School deserved a front gate worthy of its stature and prestige. Further, he said, proper school gates would help considerably in tightening security of the school premises and keeping trespassers out. Another of the Governors spoke of adopting a less elaborate design but in the opinion of the Chairman of the Board of Governors, “nothing short of the best and most impressive was worthy of the School.” Eventually, a vote was taken of the Governors with seven in favour of the project and one against. 

In providing more information to the Board, the Headmaster said that the design shown to the Board had been drawn up by the pupils of the School under the supervision of the Senior Art Teacher. Much attention and care had been paid to ensure that the design retained the motifs of the main school building so that it would be in congruity with the architectural design of the parent building. 

In 1977 Dato’ Ch’ng Eng Hye responded generously to the School’s appeal for donations to build the main School Gate. According to the School Magazine, three generations of the Choong family had studied at the School. Ch’ng was a pupil of the Free School from 1919 to 1923 – he was the Head Prefect in 1923 – and his sons, Eddy Choong Ewe Beng, Freddie Choong Ewe Eong, David Choong Ewe Leong and Louis Choong , were also educated here, as well as many of his grandchildren. The other Old Boys that donated to the cause were Loh Kah Kheng, Lim Seng Hock and Teh Choon Beng. 

The main gate, constructed at a cost of about $23,000, was modelled on similar arch patterns found in the School. The slanting roof, pillars, motifs of rings and criss-cross patterns were similar to those on the main school building. The project began in late 1978 and finished sometime near the end of the second term in 1979. The School Gate was declared open officially by Ch’ng on 29^th September 1979. 

The Headmaster, in his school report at Speech Day 1978, paid tribute to the spirit of love and loyalty of the Old Frees who had rallied to the call of the Alma Mater. “The School required some gates that reflect the architectural grandeur of the main building,” he said, “and out spoke generous Dato’ Ch’ng Eng Hye, an Old Free. ‘I’ll donate the main gate to the Grand Old School,’ he had told the Board of Governors. We are proud of him. Other groups of Old Frees came forward too and said they too would donate for the two small gates.” 

Interpretations

So I've been visiting the school again during the school holidays. Nothing stirred except for the odd staff going about their jobs around the grounds. A good opportunity for photography, taking pictures of the nooks and crannies, some from unusual angles, without anyone getting curious, and then coming home to play creatively with the image enhancing software. Here's what I achieved playing about with Google's now non-supported Picasa program:

The incomparable Viktor Korchnoi

It has been announced that Viktor Korchnoi had died at the age of 85. Korchnoi was possibly the strongest grandmaster during the post-Bobby Fischer era never to have become a world chess champion, He had played Anatoly Karpov not once but three times for the world championship title but he faltered each and every time.

In 1974, Korchnoi and Karpov played in the Candidates final match in Moscow, which Karpov won. And because Fischer refused to defend his title, the World Chess Federation declared Karpov as the new world champion. One year later, Korchnoi defected from the Soviet Union and left his family behind. Setting up his base eventually in Switzerland, he advanced to challenge Karpov again in 1978. It was an acrimonious match in Baguio, Philippines which was full of political tension but Korchnoi was unable to dislodge his opponent. In 1981, he played Karpov for a third time in Merano, Italy but by then he was no longer at his best. After this match, Korchnoi's family was allowed to leave the Soviet Union.

I first met Korchnoi in 1979. Together with some other chess players from the Penang Chess Association, we were then playing as the Penang team at the Asian cities team chess championship in Hong Kong. My team mates and I knew that Korchnoi was in town but we never expected to bump into him in the hotel lift. He saw us and immediately demanded our support for his latest cause, which was to petition the Soviet Union to release Boris Gulko, another Soviet grandmaster, from house arrest in Moscow. Effectively, he had us cornered in the lift. We had nowhere to run but to grin sheepishly at him. Later, Korchnoi was to give a simultaneous exhibition in Hong Kong.

In 1982 when the Chess Olympiad was played in Lucerne, Switzerland, I was able to watch Korchnoi from up close in many of his games. My admiration for this man grew. More than anyone else, he brought to the chessboard such boundless energy and attitude which, to me, very few other professional chess players displayed in their games. It was at this event that I witnessed his momentous first game ever with Gary Kasparov.

My last time seeing Korchnoi at work was at the Manila Chess Olympiad in 1992. I was amused to watch a black eye-patched Korchnoi who, despite recovering from a minor eye surgery, spending his recuperation by playing competitive chess and carving up most of his opponents.

Korchnoi's passing closes another chapter in the long history of chess. Rest in peace, Viktor Lvovich Korchnoi, chess player, born 23 March 1931, died 6 June 2016.

Dictionaries and English usage

Am I taking my English language too seriously? In the last few days, I had been bothered about the use of full stops in abbreviated words and I really needed some help to clarify this matter. I remembered that I do have some dictionaries, thesauruses and books on grammar in various places around the house and I set out to search for them. And this was what I found:

• A copy of Advanced Learner's English Dictionary, from the COBUILD series
• A copy of BBC English Dictionary
• A copy of Essential Dictionary, from the COBUILD series
• A copy of Longman Pronunciation Dictionary, by J.C. Wells
• A copy of English Grammar, from the COBUILD series
• A copy of 2,000 Essential English Verbs
• A copy of Mastering Spoken English & Communication Skills
• Two copies of Fowler's Modern English Usage, second edition, revised by Sir Ernest Gowers
• A copy of Current English Usage, by Frederick T. Wood

This set of books do not include my father's copy of the Chambers' Twentieth Century Dictionary. It's still somewhere in the storeroom. I really loved that dictionary. It had kept me occupied during my youth when I really needed help with a lot of words. Plus, there are two or three copies of Roget's Thesaurus in the storeroom. I should dig them out too.

Why I have two copies of Fowler's Modern English Usage, I have no idea. I was pretty surprised to see them myself. This title, together with Current English Usage, were my most commonly used companion reference books in the 1970s and 1980s. I'm glad they are still very useful to me. And yes, I've the answer already to that perplexing question of using full stops in abbreviations....

Really? 200 years of Tamil education?

Will the Penang Free School Bicentenary Committee or the Penang Free School Foundation be doing anything to refute this outrageous claim? Will they permit the Deputy Education Minister to get away with this? Will they allow our bicentenary celebrations to be hijacked on 21 October 2016?

The above report on "Celebrating 200 years of Tamil education", which appeared in The Star newspaper on 19 May 2016, is factually wrong. Like always, there's not been enough evidence to back up the claims of politicians when they start alluding to events that happened a very long time ago.

The Deputy Education Minister, P. Kamalanathan, said this milestone could "trace its roots to Penang Free School, which hosted the first Tamil language class on Oct 21, 1816." Does he have the evidence to support his statement?

As far as I am aware, Penang Free School never had a Tamil language school until 1821 which was five years after the main school was established in 1816. Although the Tamil school was forced to close in 1823 from lack of support and attendance, nevertheless it was still encouraging to know that there was even Tamil vernacular education in those days.

When Rev. Robert Sparke Hutchings submitted his Original Plan to set up the Prince of Wales' Island Free School (the original name of Penang Free School) to the Government in Council for approval on 6 Jan 1816, two of the objectives were:

10th. That the Children of Malay Parents who are not desirous that they should learn English, be instructed by a Malay Teacher to read and write their own Language.
11th. That the same Plan be adopted as far as circumstances will permit, with regard to the Children of Chuliah and Hindustanee Parents.

Unfortunately, some of Hutchings' original objectives could not be realised. One year after the school's establishment, the School Committee conceded to the subscribers at its first annual meeting in October 1817 that: "It was also intended, to Educate in their own national languages, a certain number of Day Scholars, the Children of Malay, Chinese, Hindoo, and Chuliah Parents, for whom Native Teachers, were to be provided. Neither of these objectives have yet to be attained, nor indeed put into progress; the Committee have found it most advisable to limit its first measures to the Introduction of a system of Education in the English Language..."

Therefore, unless Kamalanathan can assert positively that there was indeed a Tamil vernacular school or class at Penang Free School in 1816, all I can say is, definitely there was none. Indeed, circumstances did not permit the Free School to open any vernacular school until 1821. In that year, two Malay schools and the singular Tamil school were opened, while none was ever started for Chinese vernacular education. The Tamil school closed in 1823 while the Malay schools ran a bit longer till 1826.

This was the research of Marcus Langdon in his book "Penang the Fourth Presidency of India 1805-1830, Volume Two" published by the George Town World Heritage Incorporated in 2015. Langdon is the leading authority on Penang's early history under the East India Company, and his works are widely cited by heritage advocates, conservationists and historians.

Having said all this, if Kamalanathan has irrefutable evidence to the contrary that there were indeed Tamil language schools elsewhere in Penang in 1816, do let me know. I shall welcome any new evidence that can re-write the history of education in Penang.

To Perth again and back: Serpentine (Part one)

It's been about six weeks since Saw See and I took a short holiday to de-stress after I had completed about 90 percent of the manuscript for the Penang Free School Bicentenary Book project.

For the second time in seven years, we went to Perth but this time, it was only for five days at the end of March, much shorter than the eight days we spent there in 2009. Actually, Perth did not come into our reckoning at all but we got carried away when Malindo Air launched their new flights to Western Australia last November. We found the price appealing enough and decided to go Down Under again.

So there we were, on 25th March morning, waiting for the ETS electric train service to arrive at the Bukit Mertajam station, which it did at about 7.10 a.m. promptly. As we've done the train journey so many times before, this trip wasn't out of the extraordinary. We arrived at the KL Sentral at about 11 o'clock and were picked up by our daughter. There would be about 12 hours to kill in Kuala Lumpur before the Malindo Air flight took off at 11 p.m.

We arrived at the Perth International Airport after five o'clock in the morning of 26th March, duly went through Australian Immigration and Customs control, and found ourselves queuing up at the Optus counter to buy a pre-paid SIM card for my mobile. Quite cheap, actually, because I paid only AUD10 for five days of usage which included 500MB of data daily. The Optus counter can be easily seen once you leave the arrival hall. Just turn left and you are there.

We next went to the car rental counter to pick up our vehicle from Thrifty. I had expected that they would allocate us the Nissan Tilda but was surprised to be given the Toyota Corolla, a bigger car. Suited us fine, actually, because of our big bags.

Because the holidays were short, we decided on only a few destinations in our itinerary. One of them, however, would have to be a visit to the Bodhinyana Monastery at Serpentine. When Ajahn Brahm visited Penang last December, I had asked him casually whether he would be in Perth during the Easter weekend and he had said yes. As such, not visiting the monastery would be totally out of the question for me as I had really wanted to catch the monk in his liar.

It was a rather quiet drive to Serpentine but for a brief flurry of excitement with my old GPS unit that I had brought along from home. I still had my old Western Australia navigation map installed but I had been unable to find my updated map of the place. Consequently, for much of my driving around the airport, the poor GPS unit kept telling me that I was driving on some undiscovered road in the middle of nowhere although I was definitely on the highway to somewhere. But soon I saw the sign board that said Armadale, and I remembered from long ago that Serpentine was in the same direction.

Pretty soon, the GPS took over and I found myself at the Bodhinyana about an hour later: just in time, actually, to catch the tail-end of Ajahn Brahm's morning prayers. We quickly offered him a dana of robes before joining the other people there for lunch.

I must say that the lunch served at this monastery was quite an eye opener. It was so much unlike the food that we get here in Penang, which is wholly Chinese fare. Here at Serpentine, we have devotees bringing in lasagna, chocolate, salad, biscuits and a cheese bar, assorted bread and yoghurt, among many other types of food. It was quite an experience.

Inevitably, we met a couple from Malaysia when we arrived at Bodhinyana. From Alor Star, they told us, and they had been in Perth for three weeks already. They showed us around the grounds after lunch was over. We went over to the meditation hall and submerged ourselves in the immense silence of the place, which was helped by a fully carpeted floor that completely muffled any sound from people walking around. We also met an elderly lady from Thailand who claimed to be both a Catholic and a Buddhist, if such a thing was ever possible. Anyhow, we couldn't stay too long at the monastery as we had to drive back to Perth. Fremantle beckoned next.

People lining up for food at the Bodhinyana in Australia is no different from people lining up back in Penang, except that they are more multi-racial

Enjoying our first full meal in Western Australia 

The silence of the well-carpeted meditation hall at the Bodhinyana Monastery

Our new-found friends at the monastery

"abok-abok, pang sai boh cheh bok"

An old memory just came to my mind. Remember the rhyming childhood ditty that one used to recite, "abok-abok, pang sai boh cheh bok"?

Back in the 1960s, I would always be hearing a man intoning out loudly, "abok-abok...." as he rode along Seang Tek Road in the evenings to hawk his delectable sweet desserts. As I would remember, whenever someone wanted to buy from this burly and dark-looking old man, he would stop and open up the rattan basket at the back of his bicycle.

The abok-abok was his main dessert - basically a mixture of small sago balls coloured with green pandan extract and steamed with gula malacca and grated coconut in a conical wrap of banana leaf  - but if my memory serves me right, there was also kueh kochi santan too.

On the rare days that my mother agreed to buy me the dessert, which wasn't often, I would gently hold the abok-abok, wrapped in a banana leaf, in my hands but I could never bring them into the house because I would have already finished it even before I stepped through the door!

The abok-abok man went everywhere on his bicycle. I was told that not only had he been seen around the Dato Kramat Road and Perak Road areas but people around the Bridge Street and even Beach Street areas have recalled seeing him through.

Love your trees

The tecoma tree outside my house is blooming again and for the second time this year, the ground is coated with a layer of pink flowers. It's been so for the past week but thankfully, the blooms have not been as intense as the last flowering season. Still, I'm able to refill my compost pail with fresh flowers and thus have a fresh pile of compost heap.

I was outside the house yesterday morning picking up the flowers from around the tree when a "helpful" neighbour from the end of the road sauntered up to me and remarked that I should perhaps do what she did, which was to cut down the tecoma tree.

I was horrified. What, cut down the tree? Typically, a selfish Malaysian who would rather contribute to warming the earth than greening it. And that was what I told her. We shouldn't be so selfish only to think of ourselves and our own convenience. Besides the shade, we need the trees to provide us with the oxygen and to help cut down on the emissions. If everybody were to cut down the trees around them, we shall be denying ourselves the nature around us. Don't ever think that your neighbour's tree is enough to provide both him and you with replenishment and rejuvenation. Play your part too. Plant your trees, nuture your trees and love your trees. For that, I shall endure the yearly tecoma blooms. I shall continue to be grateful for the tree outside my house.

The bicentenary book

I suppose it is time for me to put some closure to my writing of the long history of the Penang Free School. I have spent something like eight months on this project for the School's Bicentenary Celebrations this October 2016 and I still have one last chapter to complete, which is on some of the illustrious deceased alumni who had shone prominently on the national or world stage. But for that, I can write the chapter separately without affecting much of the book's main contents. 

It had been an interesting journey to trace the School's history as much of the pre-Second World War records had been lost due to the Occupation years. Thankfully, the National Library in Singapore, the rare books section of the Penang State Library and the School Archives did provide me with a lot of resources to work on, not to mention too some individuals who helped with information to fill in some gaps.

Khalil Gibran on Giving

You give but little when you give of your possessions.
It is when you give of yourself that you truly give.
For what are your possessions but things you keep and guard for fear you may need them tomorrow?
And tomorrow, what shall tomorrow bring to the over-prudent dog burying bones in the trackless sand as he follows the pilgrims to the holy city?
And what is fear of need but need itself?
Is not dread of thirst when your well is full, the thirst that is unquenchable?

There are those who give little of the much which they have -- and they give it for recognition and their hidden desire makes their gifts unwholesome.
And there are those who have little and give it all.
These are the believers in life and the bounty of life, and their coffer is never empty.
There are those who give with joy, and that joy is their reward.
And there are those who give with pain, and that pain is their baptism.
And there are those who give and know not pain in giving, nor do they seek joy, nor give with mindfulness of virtue;
They give as in yonder valley the myrtle breathes its fragrance into space.
Through the hands of such as these God speaks, and from behind their eyes He smiles upon the earth.

It is well to give when asked, but it is better to give unasked, through understanding;
And to the open-handed the search for one who shall receive is joy greater than giving.
And is there aught you would withhold?
All you have shall some day be given;
Therefore give now, that the season of giving may be yours and not your inheritors'.

You often say, "I would give, but only to the deserving."
The trees in your orchard say not so, nor the flocks in your pasture.
They give that they may live, for to withhold is to perish.
Surely he who is worthy to receive his days and his nights, is worthy of all else from you.
And he who has deserved to drink from the ocean of life deserves to fill his cup from your little stream.
And what desert greater shall there be, than that which lies in the courage and the confidence, nay the charity, of receiving?
And who are you that men should rend their bosom and unveil their pride, that you may see their worth naked and their pride unabashed?
See first that you yourself deserve to be a giver, and an instrument of giving.
For in truth it is life that gives unto life while you, who deem yourself a giver, are but a witness.

And you receivers... and you are all receivers... assume no weight of gratitude, lest you lay a yoke upon yourself and upon him who gives.
Rather rise together with the giver on his gifts as on wings;
For to be over-mindful of your debt, is to doubt his generosity who has the freehearted earth for mother, and God for father.

Goon Fatt Chee: A top mind among headmasters

I was reading the 1975 edition of the Penang Free School Magazine and came across this lengthy interview which the Editorial Board had carried out with the Headmaster of the day, Goon Fatt Chee. The editors posed some wonderful questions to their headmaster and he, in turn, presented some very fascinating answers. Goon was of a top mind, a quality not often seen in most headmasters today. Two pertinent questions that were asked of him:

Q. How do you define the roles of the headmaster, the teachers and the pupils in the school?

A. The role of the pupil is to learn and to gather knowledge or experience so that he can develop himself physically, morally, spiritually and intellectually for the battle of life after school. He is to learn not only subjects in the curriculum but also how to live and to adapt himself in society, for the school itself is a miniature society. So such human virtues as love, loyalty, charity, goodwill, understanding, respect for elders, temperance, tolerance and courage are to be cultivated while he is in school. He is also to learn that humility and character are important, that academic brilliance is no compensation or substitute for poverty of character and that a man without any qualms of conscience is like a body without a soul.

The role of the teacher is to teach and to guide the pupil towards the achievement of the student's goals. The teacher "walks in the shadow of the temple, among his followers, and gives not of his wisdom but rather of his faith and his lovingness. If he is indeed wise he does not bid you enter the house of his wisdom but rather leads you to the threshold of your own mind."

The headmaster's role is that of the captain of a ship. He is expected to know everything about the school. He organises, directs and supervises. He is a motivator and an administrator. He sees to the smooth running of the school and steers it as the captain steers his ship. And like the captain, he is responsible for everything and everybody on board.

Q. Why does the government pay so much attention to the students?

A. People say "Upon the students depends the quality of society and upon society the quality of the nation." The significance of this statement is obvious. Besides it is common knowledge that the students of today will be the leaders of tomorrow. They can make or break the nation. They have shown that they are capable of toppling governments, bringing down dictators and even restructuring society. I think it is this political potential in students that has caused the government to pay special attention to them and their activities, right up to University level.

On the role of the headmaster, Goon was to expand on his thoughts later when he published his book, The Role of the Principal in Malaysia, in 1980. Sadly, this book is now out of print.

Faiz Subri's wonder goal

When the name of Roberto Carlos is mentioned, the one thing that comes to mind is his notorious free kick in the Brazil versus France game at the Le Tournoi 1997. It was notorious because the once-in-a-lifetime banana strike curled into goal in a seemingly impossible way. It was a uniquely wonderful moment in football history, except that it is no longer unique. Mohd Faiz Subri, an attacking mid-fielder of the Penang football team, has just scored a wonderful screamer of a free-kick against Pahang in the second round of the Malaysia Super League that may actually out-bend Carlos' banana. I hear his goal is now in contention for FIFA's Puskas Award for 2016 but then, he will have to wait until next January to know the results. In the meanwhile, congratulations to Faiz Subri.

Warmest greetings

Two views of Jupiter

My latest interest is, of course, taking photographs of Jupiter with my camera. I'm fascinated by the orbits of the four visible Galilean moons around this planet. At different times of the month, the moons would align differently on the two sides of the planet and no two photographs are ever the same. The two pictures below were taken just two days apart at approximately the same time in the morning, that is, around 6.30 a.m.

Of course, there are various limitations to my ability to take a clear picture of Jupiter. First, the zoom lens on the camera itself. I'm using an Olympus EPL-7 which although a decent micro four-thirds camera for everyday use, it is not enough for sky photography. However, the longest focal length on my zoom lens is only 150mm (equivalent to 300mm on an SLR camera) but this is not a very big issue by itself since I tend to process my pictures with computer software. Second, the aperture is also an issue because the widest on my lens is f5.6 after zooming out to the maximum. Relatively inadequate. Third, because of the night sky that I have to work with, my shutter speed has to slow down to one-quarter of a second which makes camera shake a big challenge. So I've to resort to bracing myself against my gate. I've used a camera tripod too but it is quite cumbersome because I have to adjust and readjust the tripod legs just to point the camera in the correct direction and place the planet in the right centre of the view. And constantly I would have to make adjustments to compensate for the Earth's rotation. But challenges aside, it is a fascinating hobby indeed.

Mercury, at last!

It's an over-hyped story. This often referred story from the National Geographic recently about seeing five planets aligned in the morning sky.

Firstly, the illustration is misleading. Don't ever expect to see the planets in their full splendour. No, they are all pin pricks of light in the dark sky. The illustration also show the planets lined up low down in the sky, almost hugging the horizon, and within our normal field of vision, which is wrong because from our point of view in the tropics, they are all directly overhead and you will have to turn your head from one end of the sky to the other.

Secondly, except for Venus and Jupiter, the other planets are very dim. It is almost impossible to see Mercury. Thirdly, unless you attempt to sky-watch from a completely dark and open area, the ambient light will interfere with the experience. As I say, an over-hyped story.

Having said all that, I wish to say that finally, I've managed to catch a glimpse of Mercury. I've been grumbling ever so long because from the front of my house, it has been impossible for me to see this planet. My house, and my neighbours' houses, block the view and moreover, the street lights and the porch lights all interfere with my view.

When I happened to wake up early this morning, something made me pick up my camera when I decided to walk around the neighbourhood. And suddenly when I turned into a dark back alley some distance away, lo and behold, both Venus and Mercury came into view. There it was, very low in the still dark sky but unmistakably Mercury. Finally, after more than 10 years of peering skywards from my house, I have seen this elusive planet. What a sight, indeed!

Li Chun (立春), 2016

Today being the fourth of January, there is just one month to go before the start of Li Chun (立春) on 4 February 2016. 

The significance of Li Chun (or Lip Chun which was how my grandmother and mother used to say it) is that to the Chinese all around the globe, this is the day for the Coming of Spring. The day, which I had explained last year, when the sun is deemed to have crossed the 315° longitude in the sky.

This year, Li Chun coincides with the 26th day of the Chinese lunar calendar, which means the Chinese New Year celebrations would only be four days away. According to the Joey Yap book, The Ten Thousand Year Calendar, which I consult at about this time every year, Li Chun will occur at 5.48 p.m. on 4 February 2016.

At this time, if you are like me, you will get ready to stick a new piece of decorative red paper with the Chinese character 春 (Chun) on the family rice bucket. I will also be filling up my rice bucket to the brim with uncooked rice to signify abundance. Happy Li Chun, everyone!

Meantime, here are my past blog entries on this Chinese festival:
Li Chun, 2015
Li Chun, 2014
Li Chun, 2013
Li Chun, 2012
Li Chun, 2011
Li Chun, 2010
Li Chun, 2009
Li Chun, 2008
Li Chun, 2007

Half a cup of coffee

Every time I drink my kopi-o at this particular stall at the Kampong Baru market in Bukit Mertajam and I reach this level of coffee in my cup, I am reminded of my aunt who, when she was still alive some two or three years back, had a knack of ordering "half a cup of kopi-o" from the stall-owner, and getting it. She had lots of friends among the stall-owners and could get what she wanted from them! Not me, though. Although the stall-owner knows me too, I am too shy to attempt what she did.

Venus and Jupiter

Stepped out of the house this morning and happened to look upwards. An automatic reaction with me. And immediately noticed two of the brightest spots of light in the still deep blue sky. Quickly grabbed the camera and aimed upwards. Handheld, no time to mount the camera on a tripod. Venus was no problem; it was bright enough to capture it juxtaposed with the mini-satellite dish. Jupiter posed a challenge, though, because it was so much dimmer. Despite steadying myself against a wall, I could sense a slight camera shake. But okay, lah, still caught the essence on the planet on the camera. Was immediately blown away by the discovery of tiny pricks of light on the image which I couldn't see with my naked eyes. Plus, the bonus of seeing two of Jupiter's brightest Gallilean moons. What a start to a day!